Taiwan Election verdict celebrations by DPP
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, January 14: The people of Taiwan have risen to the occasion to reject the bullying of China to give a third straight mandate to the incumbent Democratic People’s Party (DPP). The popular vote came for the DPP despite the party-led government raising the defence budget four times to meet the challenges posed by China.
The popular verdict in China appears boosting the confidence of the western world to call the bluff of China. In a first, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who is president of the French National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet congratulated William Lai Ching-tse for winning Taiwan’s presidential election. She has thus become the first to break the taboo to congratulate the victorious candidate in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s People Party, which came third in the election, advocated middle path in dealing with China. The main Opposition party, the KMT, also sought a non-confrontationist approach with China. Yet, the people gave the vote of confidence in the DPP, making clear that they reject China’s bullying, as well as asserting their choice to live in a country with democracy.
Major General (Retired) Shashi Asthana told The Raisina Hills that the world should hail the resolve of the people of China that they have rejected the pressure tactics of China and voted for democracy, as well as the party which favours independence of the country. He said that the Taiwan verdict is a big setback of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Taiwan verdict is also being hailed as a signal that the Communist rule in the mainland China is not a tradition of the country. Anne Applebaum, an author, said in a statement on the social media platform X that “Free and fair elections in Taiwan prove there is nothing cultural or traditional about Chinese autocracy, no reason why the Chinese communist party must rule indefinitely on the mainland.” She further argued that “the Chinese communists don’t like” the Taiwanese elections for the same reason as they reject the hold of the Communists in the mainland.
With clear loss of face, China issued a statement on the Taiwan verdict, saying: “The two election results in Taiwan region show that the DPP is unable to represent the majority of the island’s public opinion.” China is seeking shelter in the fact that DPP won about 40 per cent votes in the triangular contest. But the experts in the matters of strategic affairs also stressed that Lai has got more votes than Xi ever in his political career.
Yaquiu Wang, research director of Freedom House, in a statement on the social media platform X said: “Calling Lai pro-independence is inaccurate. All candidates are pro-status quo. The difference is in the approaches. Taiwan people just want to live their lives and not getting bombed, and now they have resoundingly chosen a leader who believe the best way is to stay tough.”
The US has also sent out a loud message that Washington will fully back the Lai administration in Taipei. The US President Joe Biden is rushing a high level delegation to Taiwan just after the presidential election. In fact, it was the visit of the former US Congress President Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan which had sunk the relations of Washington with Beijing to a new low.
But Asthana told The Raisina Hills that it’s not easy for China to bully because the US has provided best in the class fighter jets to Taipei which are not shared even with NATO members. He added that China may have reconcile to the fact that the dream of ‘reunification of China’ may remain unfulfilled for Xi.
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